But it doesn't stop there. The percentage of minority students has doubled. Employment has tripled. The number of National Merit Scholars has quadrupled.

Incoming students' GPAs have soared. Research funding now tops $100 million annually. The school offers more than 200 different degrees.

Quite simply, UCF has gone from being a second-tier commuter school to one that U.S. News & World Report recently ranked as one of the nation's premier "Up-and-Coming" schools, alongside the likes of George Mason and the University of Maryland.

Not bad for a guy who got the gig after the previous president was caught using an escort service.

You may not agree with everything that Hitt, 71, has done. But you'd be hard-pressed to dispute that he's a man with a vision.

More important, it is a vision realized.

This week, the university will commemorate Hitt's 20th anniversary. Yet he came to Orlando as a complete unknown.

He was an interim president at the University of Maine — a former psychology professor who grew up the son of working-class parents in Texas. He was the first in his family to graduate from college.

Upon arriving in Orlando, Hitt said: "The biggest thing that struck me about this school was opportunity."

He wasted no time. Hitt began expanding the school's degree offerings and raising admission standards.

His goal was never to be Harvard — or even the University of Florida. He wanted UCF to be a major research university that both educated and served as an economic engine for Central Florida.

Nothing symbolizes that more than UCF's building boom: growing from 51 buildings on campus to 158.

While Orlando leaders tussled over building a new sports arena, football stadium and arts complex, Hitt built all three.

And he did it his way.

When he couldn't reach a new financial deal with leaders of the Florida Citrus Bowl — where the Knights used to play — Hitt simply picked up his team and took it back to campus.

He built an entirely new stadium for $64 million. That's about a third of what the Citrus Bowl folks want to spend renovating their stadium … which now has no team.

The school's athletic program — improved teams and a step up to the Big East Conference — is another part of Hitt's legacy.

Yet it also has led to his darkest hours.

Football player Ereck Plancher died on the field. And the fallout exposed a staff that seemed to struggle with the truth. It culminated with a $10 million verdict against the school in a wrongful-death case.

There have also been recruiting scandals with the basketball and football programs.

As I said after news of the last scandal broke: If Hitt demands excellence and morality in academia, that message hasn't gotten through to his athletics department.

He also took criticism for paying too much — $15 million — for 25 acres of land near his burgeoning medical school.

Hitt defends the price. I agree with those who say it was too much — especially considering it was being sold by Tavistock, a company that claimed be some sort of community "partner" in the deal.

Yet even in that debate, Hitt demonstrates why UCF continues to grow under his leadership: He knew what he wanted to do. He did it. And he moved on.

And sometimes, the entire region has benefited.

In my estimation, for instance, UCF's new medical school was the single most important step this community has ever taken to diversify and improve its historically low-wage economy.

Hitt downplays any sort of grandiose visions.

"I'd like to tell you that it was the result of rigorous intellectual analysis," he said. "But it wasn't."

Up next are plans for a teaching hospital, more degrees — oh, and a $500 million building campaign.